Secondary Sources of Data

Question 1

What are official statistics?

Answer 1

Produced by the government

Question 2

What are the two types of official statistics?

Answer 2

Hard statistics

Soft statistics

Question 3

What are hard statistics?

Answer 3

Not open to interpretation or changing definitions

e.g. birth, marriage, death, divorce statistics

Question 4

What are soft statistics?

Answer 4

Can be redefined meaning they can lack validity

Social construction - e.g. poverty, unemployment, ill health, crime

Question 5

What are the advantages of official statistics as a source of secondary data?

Answer 5

Very cheap and easy to use/interpret

Not time consuming to use - data already there

Can easily make comparisons and look at trends

No ethical issues with the official statistics

Very representative - data has to be given to the government by law

Question 6

What are the disadvantages of official statistics as a source of secondary data?

Answer 6

Soft statistics - may lack validity e.g. crime statistics lack validity as they ignore the dark figure of unreported crime

May be subject to political bias
e.g. between 1979 & 1997 conservative government produced statistics to show unemployment fell every year - government changed the way they counted unemployment over 30 times

Question 7

What does the term documents refer to?

Answer 7

Refers to any qualitative written text or image

Question 8

What are personal documents?

Answer 8

Provide feelings and accounts of an individual

e.g. diary, autobiography, letters

Question 9

What are public documents?

Answer 9

Created by a school, the government, councils, charities, businesses etc.

e.g. Ofstead, government reports

Question 10

What are historical documents?

Answer 10

Include personal and public documents and other sources created in the past

e.g. newspapers, photos, books/novels, artwork, films

Question 11

What are the advantages of documents as a source of secondary data?

Answer 11

No ethical issues as the research has already been done

Interpretivists like the qualitative data - valid and can gain verstehen

Valid - true life account

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of documents as a source of secondary data?

Answer 12

Positivists don’t like the qualitiative data - cannot make comparisons/identify correlations

Not representative - doesn’t represent the wider population

Question 13

What are the potential problems when assessing documents as a source of secondary data?

Answer 13

Authenticity - whether the document is genuine or fake

Credibility - what were the motives for creating the document, is it believable

Representative - is it typical of all documents

Meaning - words can change meaning over time and a modern day interpretation may not mean the same thing

Question 14

What is a content analysis?

Answer 14

A way of analysing documents

Question 15

What does a content analysis involve?

Answer 15

Involves turning the document into a quantitative form that can be measured

Question 16

What do interpretivists argue about content analysis?

Answer 16

Argue it gives no meaning to the document either in terms of the meaning to the audience or the intended meaning of those who created the document

Question 17

What is a case study?

Answer 17

One intensive example of whatever the sociologist is researching

Question 18

How can a case study be carried out?

Answer 18

It can be done using any method but usually with unstructured interviews or participant observation

Question 19

What is a life history?

Answer 19

An account of a persons life as told to the researcher

Question 20

How are life histories usually carried out?

Answer 20

Usually done in the form of an unstructured interview supported by personal documents such as diaries or letters

Question 21

What are the advantages of case studies and life histories as a source of secondary data?

Answer 21

Interpretivists like because it allows them to gain verstehen

Valid data

No ethical issues

Question 22

What are the disadvantages of case studies and life histories as a source of secondary data?

Answer 22

Not representative - one person account/perspective

Positivists don’t like - cannot make comparisons

Not reliable - may not be able to conduct interview in the same way again

Question 23

How is a longitudinal study carried out?

Answer 23

Carried out on the same sample of people over a long period of time

Question 24

How is data collected in a longitudinal study?

Answer 24

Data collected from the sample at regular intervals using questionnaires or interviews

Question 25

What does triangulation refer to?

Answer 25

Refers to a researcher using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to check the validity and reliability of the data